Tara Murray
Kris Terziervski first put on some boxing gloves as a 15-year-old at a youth centre in Craigieburn.
Now having created history by being the first person to claim the heavyweight division Australian and Australasian titles simultaneously in more than 100 years, he’s keen to take on the world.
The Craigieburn local had won the Australasian title by beating Waikato Falefehi in March. That was on the line, along with the Australian title in May against former NRL star Paul Gallen.
A tiring Terziervski was able to hold on for victory.
“It’s an amazing achievement,” he said. “I had the Australasian title and I was keen to get the Australia title as well when it was up for grabs.
“It was a goal I set to achieve when I first got into the professional ranks. It’s nice to have a bit of history.”
Terziervski said he started boxing when he was 15, for a bit of self defence. After falling in love with the sport, he had his first fight at 18.
From there he would have to make a decision about his sporting future.
“There was an element of self defence,” he said on why he started boxing. “The Craigieburn Youth Centre had a boxing program.
“I started getting into it and doing little bits and pieces. I was natural, but I also grew up playing football.
“At 20 years of age, I had a budding career in both sports and was burning the candle at both ends. I had to pick one sport and I thought boxing was the best bet.”
Since then he hasn’t looked back.
He won two silver medals at national titles as an amateur, narrowly missing his goal of representing Australia at the Olympics.
He decided to turn professional after that at 26 years of age. Now at 32, he’s hitting the peak of his career.
In his 13 fights as a professional, he has 11 wins including eight by knock out, one loss and one draw.
“There’s a big fight on the horizon in October,” he said. “He’s one of the boxers above me and if I win this fight, I can move into the top 15 in the world.
“If I can get past him, it would dramatically increase my chances internationally.”
Having achieved his goals so far, Terziervski said there’s still a few more he would like to achieve.
“Next level would be a world title,” he said.
“There’s some serious competition at that level and I’ve been putting the building blocks in to achieve a world title as a professional.”
